A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BIG BROTHER!!!

Today is my brother Jason's birthday. His 35th birthday to be exact! hehehe I really wish at times like these that we lived closer. We're not reeeeeally all that far away, but we are both busy with... well, life. I love him to death, though so as my little tribute to him, here are my top ten memories of my brother. :)

1. I was maybe 9 years old and wanted to be Cyndi Lauper and he wanted to crimp my hair (no clue why!) so I let him and he burned my forehead! He begged me to not tell our mom, but of course, like the little brat I was, I did.
2. When I was about 10 we had a nasty storm about to start and my mom sent me outside to get something out of the car. I was scared so Jason came with me. While outside, the sky opened up and it started hailing like crazy and I was TERRIFIED! I couldn't move, so he threw me over his shoulder, yelled "just don't fart!" and ran with me back into the building. (aaaaaand of course I farted. sorry!!)
3. Getting ready to go to bed every night and I had to turn the light off and walk across the the room to get to my bed. As soon as I'd turn the light off, he'd go "CH CH CH AH AH AH... CH CH CH AH AH AH... (think Friday the 13th) and then he'd start "Ryyyyyan Aaaaann... I'm under your bed, Ryyyyan Aaaaann, I'm going to get yoooooou." Needless to say, I would take as few steps as I could and launch myself into my bed and bury myself under the blankets.
4. Going to watch my brother's football games. (all the way from High School to College.) I was always SO proud. "That's MY big brother," I'd think to myself. I was STOKED when he got me one of the jerseys with his number on it!
5. My dad was cleaning and prepping a goose in the kitchen and there was a knock at my bedroom door. I opened it to find Jason holding out a goose head attached to a goose neck, but nothing else! "Ryan Ann! Pet me! Pet me, RyanAnn!" LMAO!!!
6. One snowy day at my bus stop (I think I was in 5th grade), a bunch of kids were harassing me and the ring leader grabbed a pile of snow and shoved it in my face. I was so upset... The next morning however, I was filled with pride as Jason walked to the bus stop with me, chewed the kids out and then shoved snow in the ring leader's face. He made him swear he would NEVER bother me again. And you know what? He NEVER did. (My brother was a pretty muscular guy!)
7. One morning (8th grade) I didn't want to go to school and was arguing with my mom about it, insisting that I was NOT going. Without thinking, I punched a hole in my bedroom wall. Just as my fist went through that wall, I heard my mom yell "YOU BETTER NOT HAVE PUT A HOLE IN THAT WALL!!!" My brother- who was home from college- jumped up and stood between my mom and I (to save my life, I'm sure) and told me I had better go get ready for school. NOW.
8. When we were taking my brother to college for the first time, I got to ride down there with my brother. This is one of my absolute favorite memories and believe me when I say that as I type this one, my eyes are tearing up. It was just him and I, driving in his car, listening to music and talking. Every time I hear the song Far Behind by Candlebox, I flashback to that moment. And it was just... idk... I really think that was the moment when I stopped thinking of him as just my brother, and started thinking of him as my friend. 
9. When he walked me down the aisle at my wedding and handed me off to my daddy.  (oooh! and dancing with him at my wedding to Celine Dion's Because You Loved Me. I can't think of a better song to sum up how I feel about him!) That day, he also stood in as a groomsman since one of ours was a total no-show. (nice huh?)
10. Seeing my brother become a father. I always KNEW he would make an amazing dad, and I was right. Those are three very lucky kiddies.

So, again, Happy Birthday Jason. Thank you SO much for always being there for me, AND for always being there for Michael-Ryan.You truly are an amazing person and I love you endlessly, my brother, my friend.

Sock and Underwear Gnomes....

HAVE YOU SEEN US?

     At first it was just our socks that were disappearing, so I just assumed it was the good old Sock Monster... Now however, underwear is going missing, too. Now I am a fairly sane person, so I realize it is highly unlikely that there is a thief going around our town stealing only these items. Which is why I am convinced and nothing will change my mind...

     There are Sock and Underwear Gnomes and our house is on their hot list! Sneaking into our house in the middle of the night, each taking one lone sock, always leaving behind it's grief stricken mate to try and find love again one day. I'm not unreasonable, I can see how socks can be very useful for these gnomes. They can be used as purses, bags to lug rocks in, or to carry away other socks with... But our underwear??? What is the purpose of stealing THAT? They need to make parachutes?

     One thing is for sure, I will not rest until I stop them! Once and for all!! 

A Very Productive Tuesday...

     It has been a pretty tiring couple days at our house... We (my mom and I) have been really focusing on getting our yard cleaned up, as it was starting to look pretty crummy. Several (HEAVY) bags of rocks and a WHOOOOLE lot of weeding and planting later, I think we're finally getting there.

     Yesterday and the day before we really focused on weeding that we had been putting off. Too many weeds along the outside of the fence to even attempt to pull, so we just went at em with the weed whacker. LOL My arms are STILL sore from that thing. I also made a big batch of meatballs, cooked them up and froze them for a later date. Yum!

     Today, we ran out to try and find some kind of ground cover to go along the outside of the fence, to hopefully crowd out some of these darn weeds, and of course to make it look a little nicer. We decided on a bunch of pretty little ground covers that should develop little yellow flowers on them, and got home and set to work. Planted 18 of them along the fence- which was definitely NOT fun! I am so out of shape, all the up and down, and squatting and bending and digging and... ugh! We'll just say, I am pretty sure that I will be sore later. We planted some more flowers in the garden bed at the front of the house and in the planter box in the same area. I sure wish I would've taken some before and after pictures, but I just wanted to get it done!  After all that?

POOL TIME!!!! Man, it felt SO good to get into that pool after working out in the heat all day. Spent a couple hours in the pool with my mom and the kiddies, where I stupidly decided "Hey! I'll get a little workout in while I'm in the pool." Yeah, I was already pretty sure I was going to be hurting from working my tail off today, now I'm certain of it. NOT the brightest idea, timing wise, at least. But oh well, at least I did something. :)

     I feel that I should add here, that I am super proud of my little L. She busted her cute little tail right along with us. She helped plant and water and did it all without complaining. Heck! She even did it with a smile on her face. No kidding. That's my girl!

Now, I'm off to go cook something yummy for dinner (not yet sure what!) and clean up the kitchen and get a couple loads of laundry done. I really should do as much as I can tonight, because I'm pretty sure I am going to be reeeeally sore tomorrow and won't feel like doing much at all. Man, I think I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight! At least I sure hope so.

Hmmmmm.... What the HECK to do for dinner?

Excellent Customer Service.... NOT!

     So, my mom and I took a run to Menard's today and upon looking at bags of rocks, my mom notices an employee right next to us. So she turns and says to him, "Excuse me, I have a question. Are you busy?" After a minute of just looking at her he says "Yeah, I am." I said to my mom, "WOW, really? He can't take a second to answer a quick question?" And he says "I'm sorry." and leaves. STRIIIIIIIKE ONE!!!

     A little while later, my mom goes to another employee and asks if he knows what we can use to tie our newly planted tree to, to act as a sort of stake. He seriously stared at us with a COMPLETELY blank face. So, after a minute I say to my mom, "OK, let's just get a damn dowel rod." So my mom asks him where we could locate the dowel rods. *insert second looooong blank stare here* "ummm... a dowel rod? uhhhhh... ummmm... hold on. *yells to another employee* "Ummm... dowel rods?" To which the guy answers that they are located in the hardware section. My mom says "where is the hardware section?" and OMG! wait for it..... waaaait for iiiit..... Yet another blank stare!!!! This guy must be going for a record here!! We start walking away and he says "Oh, um do you need to know where Hardware is?" We just asked you that!!! Grrrrrr....
STRIIIIIIIIKE TWOOOO!!!

     We pay for our stuff and wheel our cart to the van and start unloading the cart. Maybe 5 feet away from me are SIX employees standing around the cart return while ONE of them collects the carts. (So five employees standing there doing NOTHING) Here I am picking up these huge HEAVY bags of rocks out of the cart and shoving them into the van. Not one of them asks if we need help, not one comes and asks if they can take the cart (which they usually DO if they are out collecting carts and you are right by the cart return) I pick up the fifth bag of rocks and the whole top of the bag rips all the way open. **insert string of profanities that flew out of my mouth here** Really??

STRIIIIIIKE THREEEEEE! Menard's, I think it's safe to say "you're out!" LOL

     But really, I have worked retail plenty of times, and let me tell you, if I ever treated a customer like that or ignored one- even if I was on break OR CLOCKED OUT- I would have been written up or even fired. Shame on you for not training your employees better... I know everyone has their "off" days and that I shouldn't be upset, but it REALLY burned my cookies, man. Cuz I've worked it and the customer is TOP priority. It'll be a while before I go back there.

Ice Cream In A Bag!

      Upon browsing the Internet, I came across an article on making ice cream... in a bag. "No way!" I thought. Of course I HAD to get the kiddies together and give it a try! Sure as apple pie, it really works! It is a bit messy, probably because I used the baggies that have the slider top, and they were no match for huge chunks of ice, but whatever. The point is that it actually worked! I found another way of making it, using instead, two coffee cans. I do not have any actual cans of coffee, but if I can find a big one and a small one without having to buy them, I will definitely try that way. I think it would be alot less coooold on our hands. LOL Also, this specific one is just plain vanilla flavor and not chock full of sugar. It uses just milk, sugar and vanilla to make (ingredient wise) so it doesn't taste really sweet like store bought ice cream. Next time I will probably add a bit more vanilla and possibly a tiny bit more sugar. And then of course I will be messing with other flavors. But really, what a fun activity to do in the summertime! :) So anyways, here it is.

ICE CREAM IN A BAG:
Makes about 2 scoops of ice cream:

• 1 gallon size Ziploc bag
• 1 pint or quart size Ziploc bag
• 1 cup of milk OR half and half
• 1/2 tsp vanilla (I might try using more vanilla next time)
• 2 Tbsp of sugar
• Ice cubes
• 6 Tbsp of Rock salt or sea salt

1. Fill your gallon size baggie with ice about half full. Add the salt and seal the baggie.
2. In the smaller baggie, add your milk, sugar and vanilla. Seal and give it a few squishes to mix.
3. Open the big bag, put the milk baggie inside and reseal big bag.
4. Now this is where you get your arm workout (or get splashed with ice cold salt water like I did! LOL) SHAKE that bag. Shake it vigorously for 5-7 minutes.
5. Open bag, wipe off the top of the little bag before opening it. (Unless you want very salty ice cream, but hey if that's your thing, go for it.) LOL
6. Serve it up!
              



Chunky Crayons

This is a fun little project to do with your kiddies. All you need are some crayons, a muffin tin (I used a mini muffin tin) and an oven. These make GREAT crayons for toddlers because they are chunky and round, making it easier for little hands to hold onto.

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
•  Use broken bits of crayons or peel the paper away from whatever crayons you are going to use and break into little pieces. (Crayola Crayons really do work best with this)
• Separate into piles of like colors. Spray your muffin tins with non stick spray.

• Place crayon bits into the muffin tins however you see fit. I like doing reds, oranges and yellows together and pinks and purples together, and blues and greys... etc. But you can do solid colors, if you want. Or even mix em all up into a rainbow crayon.

• Place in oven until melted. Usually takes about 10 minutes in my oven. You know they are ready when it resembles paint.

• This is where I like to get in there with a toothpick and give it a little swirl.
• Let cool completely, about an hour. Pop em out of the tin and you are ready to rock! (sometimes even with the non stick spray, they will stick. I flip the tin over and give the bottom of each well a smack with a butterknife handle. :)

Even my 12 year old son gets excited about making these! Heck, so do I!

**You can also use those silicon molds for this. I used the tins, because that's what I had on hand. :)

Oreo and Fudge Ice Cream Cake

Let me just say, this is one DELICIOUS cake! I made this for the our 4th of July party last year, and it was absolutely gobbled up. Try it, you'll love it!

OREO AND FUDGE ICE CREAM CAKE:

• 1/2 cup Hot Fudge ice cream topping,WARMED
• 1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, (1 cup for filling, the rest for frosting)
• 1 pkg. (3.9 oz.) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
• 10 OREO Cookies, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches (Neapolitan works, too!)

 

1. Pour the hot fudge topping into medium bowl. Whisk in 1 cup COOL WHIP. Add dry pudding mix; stir 2 min. Stir in chopped cookies.  If the fudge topping mixture is too thick to spread easily, stir in 1/4 cup milk.
2. Arrange 4 ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on a 24-inch-long sheet of foil; top with half the COOL WHIP mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining sandwiches. 
3. Frost top and sides with remaining COOL WHIP. Bring up foil sides; double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet.    
4. Freeze for at least 4 hours or until firm. 
5. Slice up and serve. Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm!   

 

May I Have S'more?

Almost nothing screams Summertime quite like S'mores. The crunchy graham cracker, the ooey-gooey chocolate and warm, toasty marshmallow. THAT, my friends is Heaven! When you have alot of get togethers around the fire, the same old-same old gets a bit old. You gotta change it up a bit! There are many variations of S'mores, but I'll just name a few here.

• Chocolate graham cracker + plain marshmallow + chocolate + slice of strawberry
• Chocolate graham cracker + strawberry marshmallow + chocolate + slice of strawberry
• Chocolate graham cracker + plain marshmallow + Andes Mint
• Chocolate graham cracker + plain marshmallow + chocolate + peanut butter
•  
• Chocolate graham cracker + plain marshmallow + chocolate + peanut butter + banana slice
• Cinnamon graham cracker + plain marshmallow + granny smith apple slice + dark chocolate
• Chocolate graham cracker + toasted coconut marshmallow + chocolate
• Chocolate graham cracker + plain marshmallow + white chocolate + a raspberry

What is YOUR favorite kind of S'more?

Here is my favorite S'more variation:

S'MORES BROWNIES! (best of both worlds)

For the brownies:

3/4 cup butter
10 oz semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
graham crackers

1. Preheat oven to 325. Line 9"  square baking pan with foil and then lay 7 graham cracker sheets on bottom of pan.
2. In microwave safe bowl, microwave butter and semi-sweet chocolate for 1 minute intervals, checking and stirring often until melted and smooth. Cool to room temperature.
3. In separate bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in mini chips.
4. Beat eggs and vanilla into chocolate mixture.
5. Stir the flour mixture into chocolate mixture til well blended.Pour into pan. 
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool 10 minutes on rack. Make Frosting.

Fluffy Vanilla Frosting:
1 cup Unsalted butter
1 jar of Fluff
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

1. On medium speed, beat butter til fluffy.
2. Add Fluff and vanilla and beat for 30 seconds.
3. Gradually beat in powdered sugar til combined and fluffy.

Spread frosting on completely cooled brownies. Sprinkle on crushed graham cracker pieces and chocolate chips. I used Hershey sections. Enjoy!! :D

Judge Me Not...

Over the years as a mother, I have observed many things.

1. When you have a toddler, and you cannot find your keys? Check the toilet.
2. Kiddies really DO have a knack for embarrassing you in the perfectly wrong place, at the perfectly wrong time. (all I will say is that this involved me, MY Superman undies, a full waiting room in a hospital and my son's need to point out "cool things" to people.)
3. Kiddies can say some of the most off the wall things. (L, literally crying, "mommy I don't want you to die!" me: ohhh baby, I'm not planning on dying any time soon." L, crying even harder: "But...but... you're almost THIRTY!!!")
4. Motherhood is expensive. LOL

     The thing that REALLY gets my Superman undies in a bunch tho, is how judgmental other moms can be. It seems like as soon as you have a baby, you suddenly have a sign taped to your back encouraging others to judge you. And they judge you on E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G! What you wear, the kind of stroller or diaper bag or diapers you use. Whether you breast or bottle feed, co-sleeping or not, daycare vs staying at home. The list goes on forever. And if your child has a tantrum in public? You are automatically on the list for "the worst mother of the year award."

     Seriously?? Aren't us moms supposed to be on the same side here? Listen people, parenting is not a "one size fits all" deal. If it was, our children would come with an owners manual at birth. How we raise our children and run our families is a very personal decision. We each have to find what works best for us. So how about you do what you do, and I'll do what I do, and lets leave the judging for the beauty pageants. Deal? ;)

9 Years and Counting!



Mr and I, 2011

9 Years!

9 Years!!

     Where has the time gone? I mean, really, 9 years? It kind of feels weird, tho, to be celebrating 9 years when we have been together for just under 14 years! Now THAT'S something. We have been together for almost half of my life!  I'm  not going to lie and say its been peaches and frickin' cream.There were a few moments where I really truly didn't think that we were going to make it. Nor did I want us to, if I'm being completely honest with you.We've had our ups and many many downs, some of which very nearly broke us beyond repair.

      But after everything we have been through, the blood, sweat, and tears, I can now stand back and say "This was worth it. This was really, really worth it." We are finally in a pretty damn good place and I find myself looking forward to many more years together. This is not to say that we are perfect and never argue or disagree, of course we do. The difference is that now, it's a lot less often and when we DO fight it's nowhere NEAR as bad. UGH! That makes me sooooo freaking happy to be able to say! 

So, to my hubby I say, "Thank you for working so hard for our family. Thank you for being here with me through the madness, For wiping my tears when I'm sad, for holding my hand when we walk, for laughing at my jokes, for being my friend... We've worked our tails off to get where we are today, but ya know what? I wouldn't have it any other way, because it makes me appreciate what we have THAT much more. Here's to growing old together. I love you, babe.

A Heavy Ramble...

I'm sure you can guess what this post is going to be about... You got it, my weight. I was always very, very thin. Hell, I still fit in a size 4-6 when I was 6 months pregnant with my first child. Of course, I was 17 years old and had always been pretty active. Until I got put on bed rest and then it all flew downhill from there. Giving into cravings whenever I had them and not being able to be active led to a weight gain of almost 90lbs with that pregnancy!!! Most of which was the last 4-5 months of it. 90lbs that quickly. That is insane! I lost about half of that weight within a year or so of giving birth, but I never lost all of it. A few years later I got married (and slowly gained everything back) and a year after that I was pregnant with my daughter, where I was put on bed rest again. I gained another 45lbs or so with that pregnancy. And never lost any of it.

Here I am, 8 years later, and the heaviest I have EVER been. While I really don't feel comfortable announcing my weight, I will just say that it is ALOT more than people think. I always hear "but you carry it well", "you don't look that heavy", and my favorite "you're not fat!" OK- I DO own a mirror, and I DO use it daily. Who the hell do you really think you are fooling? I don't know how people can say I carry it well, when all I see is fat. I can doll myself up and be feeling pretty decent about the way I look and then I will catch my reflection in a window or someone will take a picture of me, and I cringe. I just want the earth to open up and swallow me whole. I guess I still have the thinner me in my mind, so when I see what I really look like to other people, like in a picture where I'm not turned just right, it knocks the wind right out of me. As far as the "you're not fat," seriously? I realize that you are trying to make me feel better, but you are actually causing the opposite to happen. Lying to me isn't doing me any favors.

I cannot stand not feeling comfortable in my own skin! I long for the days when I could go to the store and just grab a couple outfits without really having to try them on, because I *knew* they would fit. I dread fitting rooms, I always wind up in tears. I cannot stand not being able to be active like I used to be. I used to bike, blade, run, you name it. Now I get winded just walking too far. I cannot stand getting out of the shower and being slapped across the face by the woman in the mirror. Of breaking into tears at my own reflection and being filled with so much hate for my OWN body! I cannot stand the ignorant names and noises thrown my way by total strangers and for no reason. That may not happen very often, but the few times it has, have been burned into my brain.

Most of all, I hate the fact that I hate being fat, yet I do nothing about it. I have a million excuses: the healthy food choices are too expensive (which they ARE), I cant go on the elliptical cuz it kills my knees (which it DOES), I cant go out for walks because my ankle that I messed up last year pops in and out (it really does) and also because I am SOOOOO self conscious of going and even walking around my block because of all the ignorant teeny boppers that are flooding the streets with their craptastic attitudes. All of these are absolute truths, but are still excuses none the less.

I NEED to do SOMETHING, tho. I have to! I can't keep living like this. I just need to get off my butt and commit to doing something. Anything! I've said this a million and one times before.... Will this be the time it finally sticks?